Tag Archives: connecticut car accident lawyers

Though it seems hard to believe in 2017, there once was a time when you found more people walking than driving – particularly in Connecticut’s cities. Trolley service was also a part of urban life – moving thousands efficiently every day.

Enter the Ford Motor Company and the Model T in 1908. Suddenly the automobile became a central part of American life – and changed the way we lived forever.

It’s interesting to note that for many Americans living in cities in the U.S., the arrival of the automobile was unwelcome. Streets, once the domain of pedestrians and an occasional trolley car, increasingly became the domain of the motorcar.

And with an increase in motorcar traffic came an ever steeper rise in accidents involving cars and pedestrians.

In the first four years after World War I, more Americans died in automobile accidents than had been killed during battle in Europe.

In the early years of the automobile, there were no crosswalks and few if any street signs – and few if any laws governing the use of cars. In that period, drivers were not even required to be licensed.

By the end of the 1920s, more than 200,000 Americans had been killed by automobiles. Most of the fatalities involved pedestrians in cities…the majority of those killed were children.

The crisis actually grew so grave that Herbert Hoover launched the National Conference on Street and Highway Safety as Commerce Secretary under President Coolidge. Organizations interested in the topic of road safety were invited to attend, with the mission to establish standardized traffic regulations for the nation.

Sadly, the conference’s biggest players were all representatives of the auto industry. As a result, the group’s recommendations prioritized private motor vehicles over all other transit modes.

According to new data from AAA, for every mile traveled, 16-17-year-old drivers are four times more likely than drivers 18 and older to be involved in a crash and three times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash.

In just the last five years, over 5,000 people have been killed in car crashes involving a teen driver.

Another sobering fact… according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of fatal car crashes involving teen drivers has risen 10% in just the last year alone.

The data also reveals that the roughly 100 days from Memorial Day to Labor Day are the most treacherous for these young drivers.

Much has been written about the dangers of drinking and driving – and for good reason. Alcohol dramatically affects a driver’s ability to operate a car or truck. Those effects include:

Reduced reaction time

Impaired vision

Feeling relaxed and drowsy

Reduced concentration

Difficulty doing several tasks at once

Interestingly, researchers now report that drivers who are sleep deprived are as dangerous as drivers who have had three or four drinks before getting behind the wheel.

Put another way – a drowsy driver is essentially a drunk driver.

What’s more, sleep deprivation is considered a serious public health problem in Connecticut and around the country. It’s estimated that 35% of the adult population in the U.S. gets fewer than seven hours of sleep a night and that 12% get less than five.

A recent fatal car accident between a passenger car and pick-up truck, led the family of those killed in the accident to sue Apple Corporation.

Why?

The plaintiff’s are arguing that Apple has the technology to block cell phone use while driving but does not deploy it.

Does the case against Apple have a chance in Court?

Most legal experts seem to think not, citing the difficulty in claiming the phone itself was to blame for the accident.

But do Apple and the other phone companies actually have the technology to block phone use during the act of driving?

Yes.

Apple does have a patent for such technology. The patent, granted in 2008, would create technology to “lock out” a driver’s phone by using sensors to determine if the phone was moving and in use by a driver. If so, it would prevent certain functions, like texting.

Imagine driving down I-84 in Hartford on a bright sunny day when all of a sudden your sunroof explodes violently.

Sound far-fetched?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is actually investigating hundreds of complaints from consumers on this very issue.

The exploding glass has caused both serious car accidents as well as injuries to passengers – according the traffic safety agency.

One woman in Indiana reports that she was recently driving her Chrysler Town & Country minivan, with her three children in the car on a local interstate at 60 mph, when her sunroof exploded.

She said it sounded like a bomb had gone off. After pulling over on the highway shoulder, she pulled the partition on the sunroof back to look at the window and found a gaping hole and shards of glass everywhere.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is currently investigating Kia, Nissan, Chrysler, and as many as three other car companies on a dozen different models with similar sunroof designs.

Last week – the topic received increased scrutiny when a Tesla Model S crashed with a tractor-trailer truck, killing the Tesla driver. It is believed to be the first fatal car accident involving a self-driving vehicle.

Investigators are trying to understand what caused the accident. Was it caused by auto-pilot system malfunction or by errors made by both drivers? It appears the latter may be the case.

Even if the system functioned perfectly – the car accident does point to the limitations of driverless cars – at least in the short term.

The accident is also raising questions among ethicists about just how these systems can be perfected.

With the number of car accidents climbing at rates not seen in 50 years – some traffic safety experts are calling for a change.

A change in what we call these events.

Why?

Many in traffic safety think the word “accident” is a cop-out. After all, accidents are tied to fate – perhaps even the will of God – right?

So what do they have in mind?

The recommendation is that consumers and law enforcement start calling these events what they are – car crashes. And properly identify the causes – human error.

Did you know that virtually all crashes are tied to driver behavior/mistakes – distracted driving and intoxicated driving being among the top causes? It’s estimated that a mere 6% are caused by vehicle mechanical failures.